Top Ten Surprising US States for Cryptocurrency

Reward Expert used Google Trends traffic data for keywords such as Litecoin, Ripple, Ethereum, Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency in an effort to gauge US states interest levels for cryptocurrency during a three month period this year. The company then determined a weighted average and ranked US states by interest and usage.  

Also read: Only 1% of Business CIOs are Actually Using ”Blockchain” Technology

Ten US States Where Crypto is Taking Off

Coming up with its findings also involved Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Data “containing the locations of all known establishments that accept Bitcoin as a form of payment, as well as Bitcoin ATMs, to gauge the usability of cryptocurrencies for purchases and other transactions. As data for other currencies was difficult to come by, we used Bitcoin as a proxy for all currencies. We obtained a count of the total number of establishments and ATMs in each state and calculated the number per capita and ranked the states accordingly,” Reward Expert noted. “An overall rank was derived by averaging interest and infrastructure.”

MOST COMBINED INTEREST AND INFRASTRUCTURE

10. Michigan

The Wolverine state didn’t rate at all in terms of general interest, but it did in usage (8th). It managed to just make the cumulative top ten, however. “Michigan would rank higher on our list if we were to go solely on its number of Bitcoin-enabled ATMs, with a total of 12 statewide. There are fewer establishments that accept Bitcoin payments on a per capita basis. On the other hand, there are few other states with multiple places where you can get cosmetic surgery and pay with cryptocurrency,” the survey explained.

09. Washington, 08. New Hampshire,

07. Utah

The beehive state didn’t move the needle in terms of actual usage, but its interest in crypto managed to keep it alive in for a spot on the cumulative. Reward Expert notes, “At first glance, Utah would seem an unlikely member of this top ten. Certainly, it is geographically contiguous with sixth place Nevada, and tenth place Colorado (both of the interest top ten), but that is not much by way of an explanation. Interest is highest for Bitcoin (81/100), with establishments accepting crypto payments concentrated in the Salt Lake City area, suggesting that the state’s relatively well-developed tech industry may be one driver of interest.”

06. Florida, 05. Colorado, 

04. California

“Home to Silicon Valley and one of the major hubs for the US technology industry, California is unsurprisingly the state in which interest in cryptocurrencies is highest across the board,” researchers detail. “California tops Google Trends’ keyword search data for specific currencies, such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Ripple, scoring 98, 92, 97 and 85, respectively, out of a possible 100. It also ranks highly for searches for the term ‘cryptocurrency’ itself, coming in at a score of 93. The state also has over 500 establishments where Bitcoin is an accepted form of payment.”

03. Washington, D.C., 02. Nevada,

01. New York 

The empire state ranked second in crypto interest, seventh in usage, but its cumulative score makes it the number one crypto environment in the US, even with its silly Bitcoin License in New York City. “New York, would naturally rank as one of the usual suspects. Likewise a major US tech hub, and also the financial capital not only of the US, but arguably of the world, New York City drives the statewide average level of interest to stratospheric levels. New Yorkers’ interest in Litecoin and Ethereum helps boost New York’s overall trends score for interest in specific currencies to 96.25 of 100. [Its] availability of Bitcoin infrastructure, with a total of 23 ATMs statewide (20 of which are in New York City, plus Westchester and Nassau Counties, with the remaining three in the Capital Region),” make it a hospitable environment for decentralized currency, the report states. “On this measure, New York trails only Georgia in absolute terms, while leading it in terms of the number of places where Bitcoin is accepted for payments.”

STATES WITH MOST INTEREST IN CRYPTO

01. California 02. New York 03. New Jersey 04. Washington 05. Alaska 06. Nevada 07. Florida 08. Utah 09. New Jersey 10. Colorado STATES WITH THE MOST CRYPTO USAGE 01. Washington, D.C. 02. New Hampshire 03. Georgia 04. Nevada 05. Colorado 06. Kansas 07. New York 08. Michigan 09. Missouri 10. Oregon

Which states surprised you? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Pixabay, Reward Expert.

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